More features iOS should take from Android? Ars readers weigh in

How apps are handled, keyboards, text selection, and widgets made the list.

Earlier this week, we outlined five Android features that we think would do some good on the iOS side of the mobile spectrum (we also have a companion post that examines the question in reverse). Google Now-style services, quick settings in the Notification Center, improvements to autocorrect and spelling suggestions, and the ability to set default apps and set home screen buttons to links within apps all made our list.

But as always, Ars readers were eager to tell us what they think Apple could borrow from Android in order to make iOS a more compelling experience. In the 200+ comments on that piece, readers offered ideas and debated over which features were truly worth the Apple stamp of approval. Though not everyone was in agreement (since when has that ever happened in the iOS and Android world?), we identified three main topics that came up over and over again in the comments: how apps are handled on iOS devices, how keyboards are handled, and— drum roll, please—widgets.

Apps could use some tweaking

It should come as no surprise that one of the main things Ars readers want iOS to adopt from Android is the ability to sideload apps without having to go through the App Store or jailbreak. Kethinov was the first to point this out in our comments and many others agreed—though we don't think Apple will change its stance on this anytime soon. It's fun to dream, though, right?

More realistically, tommertron pointed out two major app-related features that iOS could seriously benefit from: the auto-updating of apps and the ability for apps to download info in the background.

"It's such a dumb process on iOS to see that little App Store number keep incrementing up then have to review and update the apps. If you've got apps that you wanted to use, you have to wait for all the updates to finish. I love that Android just updates them while you're not using the device and gives you a little notification to see it's been done. Plus, you can turn off auto updating on a per app level if you really want to," tommertron wrote. "The other one is great for apps like Pocket. I can't count how many times I've gotten on the subway, fired up Pocket in my phone, then realized I didn't update before I left. It's been awesome having Pocket on my Nexus update as soon as I save an article without ever having to take it out of my bag."

dantesan also wants to be able to share data between apps: "I just want iOS to be able to share data with other apps standard rather than having to be specifically designed to do so. For instance, many apps let me send data to maps, but I can't send map data FROM maps to other apps. Sometimes I end up having to e-mail myself information to be entered into another app because the app I'm using doesn't let me copy all text fields."

Finally, Clint pointed out that Android users have the ability to push whole apps to their devices from Google Play. "I can push an app from play.google to my Android device across the network. I don't believe iTunes has similar functionality," he wrote.

Keyboards, text selection, and more keyboards

Some readers had simple requests when it comes to the iOS keyboard, like Larkster. "In Android, the keys are displayed with either upper or lower case letters depending on what will show up when the key is pressed," he wrote. "I was using an iPad recently and was very off-put by the fact that the keyboard perpetually shows upper case letters. I can understand that the designers may have wanted to better simulate a physical keyboard, but why limit yourself to a silly physical constraint when making a virtual keyboard? Heck, I wish my physical keyboard could have this feature."

But more than upper- and lower-case letters, Ars readers wanted the ability to use third-party keyboards in place of the standard iOS keyboard that comes on their iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. "They must take the ability to have any kind of keyboard you want like Android has. Apple iOS has the worst keyboard on any tablet or phone. The best keyboard for Android, in my opinion, is SwiftKey. Not only does it have arrow keys, but it can do Swype keyboarding as well," Chadarius wrote.

A reader going by cnerd2025 agreed: "I know other people have said it, but the ability to use a third-party keyboard layout and/or text entry system. I am kind of jealous of my Android-using friends who have Swype type goodies. If I am ever going to be able to use my iPad (or even iPhone) for anything professional, I'm going to need an efficient way to enter text while using the ctrl, alt, super/command, and escape keys."

And, of course, there's always gotta be at least one person to request the D-word. "Dvorak keyboard layout," wrote woodelf. "I might like a Swype-style keyboard, too, once I got used to it, but I've never used one."

Ars readers had a couple of suggestions for text selection as well based on past experience with both platforms.

"I am currently using both Android and iOS, I can say that the thing that frustrates the hell out of me the most is the iOS keyboard, in combination with trying to select a specific point within text," wrote mcn31l. "When I go to make a correction to something I have typed, iOS seem to mostly select the end of the word instead of where I want the "cursor". With Android it mostly gets the right place and if not, there are the arrow keys to make life easier; iOS requires me to hold down and find the correct spot."

giantbee was in total agreement. "The biggest one for me, bigger even than widgets is a proper draggable text caret. Editing text on the iPad with the on-screen keyboard is a horribly imprecise chore, but if I am away from home, I don't always have a [Bluetooth] keyboard with cursor keys handy," he wrote.

"For now, I have installed an app from Cydia called "SwipeShiftCaret" (or similar) which allows me to at least move things backwards and forwards with swipe gestures. It's a little clumsy, but orders of magnitude faster and more precise than base iOS. Obviously, you need a jailbroken device to run it, but then that sort of free and useful tweak not being available via the official routes is another thing that I dislike about iOS—you're stuck with a very vanilla experience."

Widgets galore

"iOS doesn't have widgets yet, does it?" asked Postulator. "These should probably be near the top of the wish list."

Indeed, iOS does not have Android-style widgets, and some would argue that iOS is cleaner and easier-to-use as a result. (If you're a Mac user who's not familiar with what Android widgets are, think OS X Dashboard widgets, but on your phone.) But just because there are users who would never want such a thing doesn't mean there aren't handfuls of users who would appreciate widgets on their iOS devices in order to get easy access to certain information on one screen.

"I'd also say widgets," said another reader going by maximum_carnage. "Being able to get from my calendar to my news reader to my Facebook to my shortcuts, weather, and music with single swipes is so convenient."

Ars reader pitmonster even offered up an idea for how the widgets could be visually laid out on an iOS device: "Maybe widgets made from double-width icons, in a Windows Phone 7/8 style."

Let's be honest here: Apple isn't likely to hop on the widget train anytime soon (and if it does, the Ars staff will figure out a way to eat a hat). Still, it's pretty clear that some Ars readers would love to see them make an appearance. "I think widgets would go a long way to giving iOS an updated feel, and I find them quite useful," MonkeyPaw wrote before throwing a bone to the alternate keyboard lovers. "I also love the Swype keyboard."

123 Reader Comments

Widgets do sound nice. Maybe a feature where you can swipe down the notification center and then swipe left/right to have quick access to weather, facebook, mail, etc?

Honestly something I would really like to see happen is for Apple to revamp their forced apps as well as give me the option to delete them.

The weather app on here is just useless. There are many betters ones on the app store. And If I am really honest, while I work in finance I still have almost never used the stocks app. I just don't need it. Let me get rid of it.

The weather app on here is just useless. There are many betters ones on the app store. And If I am really honest, while I work in finance I still have almost never used the stocks app. I just don't need it. Let me get rid of it.

And here I thought iOS was free from bloatware. I guess it's just free from bloatware from the cellular companies?

Mandatory crapware is a "feature" both iOS and Android can do without.

Some readers had simple requests when it comes to the iOS keyboard, like Larkster. "In Android, the keys are displayed with either upper or lower case letters depending on what will show up when the key is pressed," he wrote. "I was using an iPad recently and was very off-put by the fact that the keyboard perpetually shows upper case letters. I can understand that the designers may have wanted to better simulate a physical keyboard, but why limit yourself to a silly physical constraint when making a virtual keyboard? Heck, I wish my physical keyboard could have this feature."

This bothers me a lot about the BlackBerry 10 keyboard too. Why do the letters remain in ALL CAPS AT ALL TIMES? Don't use the Shift button that is usually covered by my thumb to convey letter state, just do it right on the keyboard dammit!

iOS already has "widgets", they are in the notification center. Granted they aren't very customisable and third parties can't develop them, but based on HTC's research the vast majority of people don't have need for anything more that is offered there (weather, date and time, couple of calendar appointments, stocks, posts to Facebook and twitter).

Plus if Apple were to include widgets, it would put yet another screen between unlocking the screen and getting to your apps.

I have a calendar widget on my Galaxy SIII and whilst it's nice to have there at a glance, it means that my most used apps end up having to get relegated to being another swipe away. The latter is more annoying than the benefits of the former - although I appreciate that other people may think differently.

I have a calendar widget on my Galaxy SIII and whilst it's nice to have there at a glance, it means that my most used apps end up having to get relegated to being another swipe away. The latter is more annoying than the benefits of the former - although I appreciate that other people may think differently.

Why? You could easily include your favorite apps on the default home screen.

Plus if Apple were to include widgets, it would put yet another screen between unlocking the screen and getting to your apps.

I have a calendar widget on my Galaxy SIII and whilst it's nice to have there at a glance, it means that my most used apps end up having to get relegated to being another swipe away. The latter is more annoying than the benefits of the former - although I appreciate that other people may think differently.

If you think it's annoying to have to swipe to other apps, you have options.

1. Move the calendar.2. Put the apps you most use in a single folder.3. Change your launcher to one that allows for widget resizing if you're not on a version of android that does.4. There's possibly a more compact agenda/calendar/appointments app that will let you see what coming up while taking up less real estate.

I use the Power Toggles widget on my Galaxy Nexus, it lets me turn on/off 4G, Wifi, GPS, and the flashlight, change screen brightness, and displays battery status. I don't think I could use a phone without it anymore. Its a useful widget, and something iOS could benefit from.

I use the Power Toggles widget on my Galaxy Nexus, it lets me turn on/off 4G, Wifi, GPS, and the flashlight, change screen brightness, and displays battery status. I don't think I could use a phone without it anymore. Its a useful widget, and something iOS could benefit from.

Weird way to start a post that is completely praising their usefulness. I also like the Pandora widget, gVoice inbox (visual/transcribed voicemail and texts), beautiful widgets 5day weather, and "WiFi Manager" for quick hotspot switching.

For everything you mentioned allow me to suggest "Notification Toggle" it allows you to change all those settings you mentioned (and many many more) from the pull down shade. So I can change the brightness of the screen in an app. Or turn on the flashlight, etc... Super handy.

I switched to a prepaid Android device last summer from a dumbphone and iPod mini (as PDA). While configuring an iPad mini for a friend a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised at how I had come to miss iOS.

I think I'm going to get the next version of the iPhone later this year - and when I do there are one major thing I think I'll miss from Android: the Swype keyboard.

On the other hand, there are a few apps on iOS that I miss (and new ones that I want to use) and haven't been able to find replacements that I like on Android yet.

For widgets I think they should move them to a dedicated screen at the side of the main icon areas. This would replace the crappy search page, but would still include a search box at the top. This must include the ability to add your own widgets, not just those default stock/weather examples we have now.

The notification area could then be freed up to include the Android-style toggles.

I would like to see them tidy up the Settings area which has become a complete mess due to having stuff tacked on over the years.

Another Android feature that I liked was being able to trust certain publishers and let apps auto-update. It's getting tedious accepting all the app updates on my iPhone, especially as the list takes so long to populate.

The weather app on here is just useless. There are many betters ones on the app store. And If I am really honest, while I work in finance I still have almost never used the stocks app. I just don't need it. Let me get rid of it.

And here I thought iOS was free from bloatware. I guess it's just free from bloatware from the cellular companies?

Mandatory crapware is a "feature" both iOS and Android can do without.

Some of the reader complaints in the article should have been fact-checked before this was published.

Some corrections

1: Downloading an app on one device pushes it to all other devices in the background.

2. Apps can already download info in the background. Apple enabled this in a recent version of iOS. The catch is that it's based on location, which should have been mentioned in the article. The blanket statement that apps can't download in the background is false. Even the type of app used (read later app Pocket) would have benefitted by this feature and the reader in question should have known this was there. The problem is that Pocket doesn't have this obvious feature; Instapaper does.

3. The complaint about sharing data should be clarified to point out that it depends on the type of data that's being shared. If it's a file, the open in feature already exists. No mention of that? Apple needs to simply expand this feature to include other data types, rather than create an entirely new feature.

4. Capital letters on the keyboard are absolutely the correct thing. If I had the choice, I'd choose capital letters every day. When I had an android phone, one of my biggest complaints was the keyboard constantly changing as I type. It was extremely off-putting and distracting.

5. Placing the cursor between words instead of at the exact point I tap is the correct behavior. Most of the time I'm moving the cursor, it's to manage the words themselves, rather than the spelling of the words. Tapping where I though was the end of a word to find the cursor one letter off would be extremely frustrating. The current behavior is predictable in every situation, therefore not frustrating. But an easy way to move the cursor from the keyboard would be fantastic.

6. iOS has widgets. iOS lacks third party widgets, not widgets in general. iOS effectively has the following widgets: weather, stocks, Facebook posting, twitter posting, music controls, volume controls, brightness controls, screen orientation lock, mute switch, upcoming calendar events, upcoming due tasks, and notifications for every other app. I honestly don't miss a single widget from Android.

7. I know not to take seriously anything someone says who remarks, "Apple iOS has the worst keyboard on any tablet or phone." That's either ignorance or trolling. How can Ars publish that with a straight face without any commentary? iOS's keyboard has some very nice features that my Android-using buddies are all jealous of: swipe gestures for symbols and caps, the all caps keyboard that doesn't distract from typing by changing constantly, and the emoji selection. My experience and what I've heard from Android-using friends is that iOS's keyboard is simply easier to type on without the fuss. And don't even get me started on screen-wasting, constantly popping up and popping away, and unpredictably changing word selectors above the keys.

"It should come as no surprise that one of the main things Ars readers want iOS to adopt from Android is the ability to sideload apps without having to go through the App Store or jailbreak."

Jesus.

I know. It comes as no suprise that *ars readers* would like to be able to sideload apps, being a more technical lot, but I think the majority of iPhone users would get no value out of it.

Personally i consider the walled garden to be a feature, no need to worry about malware or crapware, one place to look for apps. For people who dont want to put too much time into their phone but still want a full featured smart phone, the app store/walled garden setup is nice.

I don't want widgets on iOS, I don't want auto-updating apps either, in fact most of these supposed improvements from Android I see as negatives. I don't want iOS to be Android. I want it to be clean and simple to understand. I don't want the myriad of options to cater to every possible taste because the additional complexity would add more potential for things to break.

The problem is that Pocket doesn't have this obvious feature; Instapaper does.

That might best illustrate the difference between going with the paid app and settling for the free one.

Plaid Knight wrote:

4. Capital letters on the keyboard are absolutely the correct thing. If I had the choice, I'd choose capital letters every day. When I had an android phone, one of my biggest complaints was the keyboard constantly changing as I type. It was extremely off-putting and distracting.

Thus we have an example of two right answers, and instead of Apple giving the user the choice, they made it for them.

I, too, wish there were keyboard options for iOS. I used to like the iOS keyboard, until I tried SwiftKey... I found swiftkey to work very well.

IOS and Android each have their perks. I always felt that Android provided you with more capabilities, but was a little more complex to pick up and go. Conversely, I feel that iOS provides less user-customizable features, but offers an easier "grab-and-go" experience.

I have a jailbroken iphone 4S. I'm loving the jailbreak tweaks so far, though I have been very careful about what I put on. Widgets in Notification Centre for toggling Airplane Mode, Rotate Lock, Bluetooth etc are a must.

I tried a keyboard tweak to change the letters to lower case and only have upper case when shift was on. After a few days, I uninstalled it. The constant changing was a pain in the neck and an unnecessary distraction.

I think most of these discussions come from the different mindset between iOS and Android. iOS wants to be clean and very intuitive to use. Android doesn't mind being a bit more complicated because it gives so much more customization options. I honestly don't understand why Apple can't leave the basic functions of iOS as they are now, but give users the option to customize their phone more than they can now.

I have an iPad and an Android phone. The iOS keyboard annoys me much of the time. I wish I had access to a swype style keyboard and I despise autocorrect on the iOS keyboard. I like the way the keyboard in Android changes case depending on caps or not. The iOS keyboard already does some dynamic changing like when typing a web address in safari. Why not just put a setting in the iOS settings somewhere to allow 3rd party keyboards? The average user will probably never see it, but the other is there if anyone wants to change the keyboard.

The third party widgets are a whole other thing. I love having the power toggle widget on my Android phone. For whatever reason, I need to toggle airplane mode on my iPad when I go to certain areas in my apartment. It isn't difficult to go into settings and toggle it, but a widget would be even handier.

There is no reason for iOS to put some silly news widget on the home screen or anything when shipping. They can still maintain their clean image, but give users some options to make some changes to make the phone more useful to them.

This article is a nice example of the disconnect between tech enthusiasts and the actual market. For example:

Quote:

HTC revamped its Sense UI after learning that most smartphone owners rarely use widgets and barely bother to customise their homescreens after the first month of tweaking.

[...]

According to Bamford, the findings showed many users do no differentiate between apps and widgets and, beyond live items like the Weather, Clock and Music, widgets are employed by less than 10 per cent of users.

As mentioned, if you have it configured on the device, the act of downloading an app from itunes will install it on the device.

One thing that I'd like however is automatic downloading of magazines in the Newsstand with fine grained controls. I want to be able to have, for example, Engadget's Distro automatically download the latest issue in the background so that when I open the newsstand and pick Distro I don't need to tell the app to grab the latests issue. Also for space constraint reasons I'd like to be able to specify the number of held issues; keep the 3 most recent etc.

My example is on Android, PocketCasts a podcast app allows me to set it up to keep 3 most recent podcasts and download new versions at midnight. When I go to bed I wake up to a notification that I have new podcasts, simple.

Most of those app-related suggestions are very dangerous. If offered, they should be disabled by default. Sideloading random apps from who-knows-where. Automatic updates of apps (we've seen numerous App Store apps do bad things before. Don't give them free reign.). App data sharing (aka data stealing).

Again, having the features is fine for those of you who trust app developers so much. For the rest of us, default=no please.

This article is a nice example of the disconnect between tech enthusiasts and the actual market. For example:

Quote:

HTC revamped its Sense UI after learning that most smartphone owners rarely use widgets and barely bother to customise their homescreens after the first month of tweaking.

[...]

According to Bamford, the findings showed many users do no differentiate between apps and widgets and, beyond live items like the Weather, Clock and Music, widgets are employed by less than 10 per cent of users.

iOS already has "widgets", they are in the notification center. Granted they aren't very customisable and third parties can't develop them, but based on HTC's research the vast majority of people don't have need for anything more that is offered there (weather, date and time, couple of calendar appointments, stocks, posts to Facebook and twitter).

Saying iOS has widgets is akin to saying feature phones have apps. It's not entirely false, but yeah... completely different league.

Most of those app-related suggestions are very dangerous. If offered, they should be disabled by default. Sideloading random apps from who-knows-where. Automatic updates of apps (we've seen numerous App Store apps do bad things before. Don't give them free reign.). App data sharing (aka data stealing).

Again, having the features is fine for those of you who trust app developers so much. For the rest of us, default=no please.

FYI, side-loading is defaults to off, App auto update is defaults to off, data-sharing is performed through user action (I am pretty sure you misunderstand how this feature works).

I switched to a prepaid Android device last summer from a dumbphone and iPod mini (as PDA). While configuring an iPad mini for a friend a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised at how I had come to miss iOS.

I think I'm going to get the next version of the iPhone later this year - and when I do there are one major thing I think I'll miss from Android: the Swype keyboard.

On the other hand, there are a few apps on iOS that I miss (and new ones that I want to use) and haven't been able to find replacements that I like on Android yet.

I use the calendar a lot for time keeping and as a work diary. It was like a breath of fresh air to switch from iPhone 4 to the Galaxy Note. I'd be happy to switch back if the iOS calendar app got this:

- Freely allow appointments times at minute intervals instead of as now 5 minute intervals.- Copy calendar entries.- Allow me to chose the starting day of the week. The week here in Oman starts on Saturday which of course cannot be chosen on the iPhone.

Everytime I have this conversation with someone they return a list of apps that "do the same thing" - but I want those apps: not copies or "something similar". I liked Letterpress the few days I had the iPad mini. I haven't found an app like Quotebook, nothing has worked as well as Tweetbot, Instapaper is best on iOS, others...

I don't understand the frustration with having to manually update apps. What if the update causes some problem? Removes a feature? Comes with a huge bug? And you're not forced to update it before using the app. What's wrong with hitting "Update all" before you go to sleep?

And sending an app across the network with Google Play, isn't that like automatic downloads?

The iPhone keyboard is interesting. Functionally as you type it's a great keyboard, far greater typing-wise than any keyboard on Android I've ever used, period.

But the text correction is horrendous and the lack of uppercase/lowercase is mind-boggling. Also the lack of instant access to numbers or other symbols (hold a key on android) is stupid and slows down any progress that the better-typing experience had going for it. I hate when I have to type passwords or something on my wife's iPhone because I never know if I'm shifted without carefully looking at each letter on screen.

Other than that, I think the inability to share anything with anything is limiting. They made big deal about being able to share with Twitter and FB, finally, but in Android you can be in any app, hit share, and hit ANY other app. In FB and want to share to email, twitter, email, etc? Go for it. In gallery and want to email, fb, twitter, sms, instagram, read it later, or any other app? They're all available.

Indeed, iOS does not have Android-style widgets, and some would argue that iOS is cleaner and easier-to-use as a result. (If you're a Mac user who's not familiar with what Android widgets are, think OS X Dashboard widgets, but on your phone.)

Where do you think Google probably got the idea from ? It also appeared on the Jailbreaks years before Android sprung up to the public.

Quote:

"I'd also say widgets," said another reader going by maximum_carnage. "Being able to get from my calendar to my news reader to my Facebook to my shortcuts, weather, and music with single swipes is so convenient."

iOS on an iPad already does this sans Widgets. There is a gesture swipe to change Apps on the fly without having to back out to the home screen or open the App Bar (or whatever that thing is when you double tap the home button).

I can have Safari laoded, swipe one direction and auto switch to Maps. Do it again and autoswitch to Mail and so on. The screen changes from one interface to the next.